Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

(I don't like fried food so I usually use Pam instead of the Canola Oil)

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons
ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

*From My Kitchen Cafe

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

1/4 cup Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing, divided
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

Marinate chicken with 2 Tbsp of dressing. Refrigerate 10 min ( I usually marinate over night).Grill chicken. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, cheese, basil and remaining 2 Tbsp. of dressing.When chicken is almost done, top evenly with tomato mixture. Close grill lid and cook until chicken is cooked through.

Raspberry Swirl

3/4 C. graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbs. sugar
8 oz. cream cheese (at room temp.)
1/8 tsp. salt
1 (10-12 oz) pkg. frozen raspberries
3 Tbs. butter
3 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Mix and press in a 7x11 inch pan the graham crackers, butter, and 2 Tbs. sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Beat egg yolks until stiff; add cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and salt. Beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, whip cream until stiff. Add egg whites and whipped cream to cream cheese mixture and fold gently until smooth. Pour into crust. In blender, crush raspberries and pour over cream cheese mixture. Swirl in with a knife. Freeze overnight before serving. If using a 9x13 inch pan, double the crust but not the topping.

Baked Oatmeal

I got the original recipe for this from Rachels blog

This makes a big pan, if you have a smaller family you could half it and do it in a 9 x 9 pan. We ate it hot for breakfast and then had it later in the day as a snack and I think it tasted even better cold.

My kids and I eat oatmeal a lot, this is a yummy variation. Even Andy, who detests oatmeal, scarfed some down!

I switched the recipe just a bit. The original can be found at Rachels food blog (see above link)

I wanted to snap a quick picture of this before I served it up. Apparently Holden thought I was getting a shot of him. See his little squinty face in the back? I think he liked this the most, he ate 2 more pieces than I did!!

Baked Oatmeal

1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 cups 9 grain cereal (or regular oats)
1 cup raisins (or craisins)

Mix all together. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, if you'd like. (I skipped this) Refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, put it in a cold oven and set it at 350 degrees. Bake about 40 minutes.
This is a little cake like, not like regular oatmeal.

Bread

I know. I post a ton of recipes for bread.

Bread used to be a daunting task for me. I could rarely get a batch to turn out, so I never wanted to make it.

Now I have found a few fool proof recipes. They work great and I think they deserve to be shared. I got this from a friend who is a master bread maker.

I made some substitutions in this recipe and it still worked very well. I will post what I used.

6 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 T. salt
2/3 c. oil (I used coconut oil)
2/3 c. honey
2 cups whole flax seed, ground (I just dumped it into my grinder and ground it along with the wheat)
1 egg (I used this in place of dough enhancer)
Flour till enough (about 15 cups. I used about 9 cups of my fresh ground white wheat and flax mix. 3 cups of ground red wheat and the remainder was good ole Gold Medal white flour. I kept running out of flour! But the mixture seemed to work well. I think any combination will work, this recipe was meant to use all whole wheat flour. Just keep adding it til the dough pulls away from the bowl. again, about 15 cups)

Let rise one hour.

Make into four loaves.

Let loaves rise 30 minutes.

Bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes

Thai Chicken Salad

There are a lot of ingredients to this recipe, but it is delicious and, I think, well worth the effort. I would suggest preparing ahead of time as much as possible so you don't spend and hour and a half getting it all ready. Cook the chicken, chop the vegetables, make the dressing and refrigerate. Cook the won tons ahead of time. Then start the rice in plenty of time before dinner (brown rice takes longer to cook). Then you just have to throw it all together. ( I don't know what the problem is, but it won't save my spacing. So sorry it is all bunched together!)

Bowls:

8 (6 x 6-inch) egg roll wrappers (won tons) Cooking spray

Dressing:

1/4 c original seasoned rice vinegar

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger (I just used regular ginger from the spice section)

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp honey

(I added one and a half times more peanut butter and ginger, but you can do what you want)

Salad:

1 c frozen shelled edamame beans

2 c chopped cooked chicken breast

3 c chopped red leaf lettuce ( I just doubled the cabbage and left this out, but again, do what you want)

1 c cooked long-grain brown rice

1 c finely shredded green cabbage

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (I would suggest putting a whole red bell pepper if your families like them, I think it makes it tastes so much better)

1/4 c diagonally sliced green onions

1/4 c chopped unsalted peanuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. To prepare bowls, lightly coat one side of each wrapper with cooking spray. Fit 4 wrappers, coated sides up, into the 4 corner cups of a nonstick muffin pan; press wrappers into sides of cups. ( I learned this the hard way. Don't try to do them all at once, they will just fall over into each other. It is better to make these ahead of time and space them out with an empty muffin cup between them. You eat them cooled anyway, so there is no rush) Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove wrappers from pans; cool completely on wire rack.

3. To prepare dressing, combine vinegar and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) in small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add peanut butter and honey to vinegar mixture, stirring with a whisk.

4. To prepare salad, cook edamame in boiling water 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Combine edamame and next 6 ingredients (through onions) in a large bowl. Toss well. Drizzle dressing over chicken mixture, tossing gently to coat.

5. Spoon about 1 cup salad into each won ton wrapper bowl. Top with peanuts if desired. Serve immediately.

White Bread

5 c. warm water (any warm liquid can be used, milk, juice, etc.)
3 T. yeast
¾ c. honey
3 T. salt
1/3 - ½ c. powdered milk (this can be omitted without problems)
1/3 – ½ c. potato flakes (this can be omitted without problem if you knead very well)
½ c. oil
Optional: Add any leftover cooked cereal like oatmeal, etc. up to one cup.
Flour till enough (about 14 cups)

Rise one hour before make into rolls.
Makes two cookie sheets of rolls.
Let rolls rise 30 minutes.
Bake 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Note: To make white bread loaves use this recipe. Eggs are not necessary for loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.